Princeton is a better university than Harvard, Yale, or Columbia, but I concur with XWL and NewHam. No more Ivy Leaguers* Let's get someone who knows what it means to work for a living.________________* I might make an exception for Cornell, which is a land grant university.

The climate Change in the 2012 GOP nomination has certainly been dramatic. I was telling the wife this morning that five white guys who had all feared running in 2012 as of last summer have now sent out their "I am definitely running" announcements this week. It acts to dilute the support for Palin and lets the GOP insiders "marginalise" her. The MSM is temporarily going to cooperate as they did when picking the old white man McCain, and steer opinions towards an non-charismatic white man. Beware of the MSM bearing gifts to select the GOP's nominee. The GOP needs to stick with the charismatic white woman that has Obama beat already. Play to win as the East Stroudsburg University Wrestling Team does.

Traditionalguy... I'd vote for Palin for president in a heart beat, but if someone, or several someones, who are actually qualified for president agree to run, then it is all for the best if she takes some other role.

People with ability simply don't run for president in this country, and who can blame them?

I mean... look at who ran last time around... Kucinich? Ron freaking Paul? Joe Biden? Hillary actually looked *good* compared to most other candidates and McCain actually got nominated. Several candidates weren't utterly horrible, but were any of them anything like the best leader or best administrator or best policy person in the country? Were any even the best at harnessing the brilliance of others? Not even.

The ability to herd-cats and delegate and harness others with specific expertise is the most important thing, I think... and something Reagan was apparently good at and that I think Palin would manage to do, which is why I'd be happy to vote for her knowing that she's not the most accomplished or brilliant person in the room. The president doesn't have to be. But it's still okay if the president is *also* able to bring his or her own expertise to the table along with the executive leadership skills.

Princeton is a fine Presbyterian founded school that knows a wise Hispanic women when they see one, and it is the Alma Mater of Jimmy Stewart, and I was admitted there, but could not afford to go . But this sharp policy wonk like a Jimmy Stewart can not draw the independents needed. (Compare to Sarah Palin's crowds and book sales)His only value is to make Jeb Bush seem charismatic in comparison. Then when Obama beats him, Jeb will run in 2016. This is a stage managed narrative by the Connecticut Bushes with branch offices located in Texas and Florida. Don't fall for this trap.

I found out last summer that he has a dry sense of humor when he visited my workplace for a dedication. I can't share the specifics, but the twinkle in his eye was visible when he asked about an odd job title.

A lot of Hoosiers in northern Indiana were very upset with outsourcing the toll road, until they realized the financial benefit to the state. He has been bold in cutting expenses also.

* $1.4 billion for Medicaid* $1.3 billion for the teachers unions* $650 million for the road construction trade unions* $400 million for welfare food stamps* $100 million toward weatherization bullshit* $100 million toward water quality* $100 million for welfare housing* $80 million for public transit unions* $70 million for energy* $70 million for employment services* $40 million for child care

Millions for public housing and day care? Should the federal government be providing day care to Mitch Daniels?

Sound like a fiscal conservative to you?

$1.3 billion to toss at the teachers' union? Really? Mitch Daniels is tossing the teachers union $1.3 billion large and he wants my conservative vote while he's working hand-in-hand with Barack Obama to strengthen the union thugs?

P.S. The deal with the toll road isn't so much the concept of tolls, but who owned it. You just can't trust fiscal conservatives; they answer to a lower power and put their version of the market ahead of American interests.

Yes, that's precisely what he was supposed to do. Some smart governors did. But old Mitch, he's a dyed in the wool Progressive in sheep's clothing.

Lookit, Mitch Daniels can't pal around with Barack Obama handing out his billions to his many union thug friends on Tuesday and then tell me he's a fiscal conservative on Friday.

Nobody is buying that story any more sweetheart. We have the internet and no gatekeepers to massage the spin any longer.

NO RINOs NEED APPLY.

If you want to walk hand-in-hand with Barack Obama, you've removed yourself from serious contention for a leadership position in the United States as a Republican. So, you have a choice ... return the funds or you've outed yourself as a fellow traveler.

If you're working with Barack Obama to funnel billions in federal tax dollars to the unions, then piss off. You aren't getting my vote and you aren't getting my money.

We'll go Tea Party and you can all enjoy your communism together.

So don't offer up these Democrat Lite candidates. They'll only sink you.

"The toll road is a way to extract money from the out-of-staters who drive from Ohio to Illinois."

Really? Is that Mitch Daniels' pitch?

Is he the type of Republican wants to fuck the people in the states around him to "extract" for paid-for roads inside Indiana? I guess he really is learning something from Obama and the Chicago Way about how to extract money from people just trying to get to work and back.

We have a federal gas tax that paid for that road and pays for its maintenance. So don't tell me Mitch Daniels is my friend while he's got his hand in my pocket.

If you want to convince me that he's a fiscal conservative, then tell me he stopped collecting tax. A tax not collected is money in the people's pocket.

Mitch wants to make the tolltakers more efficient at collecting taxes from all Americans who have already long ago paid for those roads and who pay 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax for their maintenance.

Stephen might be a tad too tall, but you always have to make some compromises when casting.

Besides, character actors make the best Presidents. Reagen was a character actor. So was Clinton. And with W.'s administration we got not only him, but also the character actor that played Darth Cheney – much better that way than to have the darkness in the leading role and end up with a Nixon.

Synova...Executive leadership skills are everywhere...Pawlenty, Perry, Jeb Bush, and another governor from way up north.The sine qua non is electability against the Obama attractiveness among independents. That means a hard ideological battle for the independents who want to connect with their favorite candidate. Palin is the executive with that extra attarctiveness and connection needed to win. Just honoring men's credentials gives you a Bill Nelson from Florida. He is a Democrat and he has all the credentials of a Daniels. Neither one has the guts to win on the vision thing. They win only on their carefully constructed narrative, and vote only for their friend's interests. Sarah Palin is a hardcore Jacksonian willing to drive the thieves out of the temples of our Federal cash. Why put her into a credentials contest with candidates that cannot punch their way out of a wet paper bag in a personal popularity factor needed to win National elections? The 2012 opponent is not the stiff AlGore or the Heinz/Kerry doofus. We have to out shine the loving smile of a sincere black man.

I was an unabashed Obama supporter for about one year. That changed a couple months ago after so many disappointments and broken promises. So, what I'm thinking now is Hillary should run against him in the primary. This way we'll have the first woman president and continue to keep you dangerous Republicans out of office.

Mike302000...No doubt in my mind that Hillary will run for the nomination. She is the only hope the Dems have to beat Palin...unless the Obama Media arranges for other opposition from a non charismatic white guy that appeals to the Bush wing of the GOP, in which case Obama gets the nomination. It will be fun to see Bill go after Barak. Division is a sure way for the Dems to lose it all. Have you noticed some less than flattering stories pop up out of nowhere about Sweet Old Bill lately?

@Alex, who wrote: "How do conservatives reconcile living in society without paying taxes for common services?"

Are you serious, buddy?

Indianians are paying 18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline to pay for the maintenance of the Indiana Turnpike.

Where'd that money go?

Indianians are also paying 50.1 cents per gallon in state gasoline taxes to pay for the maintenance of roads built 50 years ago.

And Mitch Daniels wants to collect tolls on top of that ... extracting money from people just trying to get back and forth to work?

What you are you kidding me?

So don't start with this crap about how conservatives don't want to pay taxes. We want to pay plenty of taxes and we're proud to do it.

We're just not going to do it to fund the lifestyles of Democrats any longer. And I think that's what really has you bunch of Washington DC image consultants like Peone suddenly commenting on this board in the pay of Mitch Daniels.

Mitch Daniels is nothing more than a Democrat who collects efficient taxes in the Republican Party of Indiana.

He's no different than Mitt Romney running Massachusetts and imposing ObamaCare on the taxpayers here before he scooted out of the state never to be seen again.

Conservatives are done with these sorts of alleged Republicans and are rooting them back our of our Party so they can go join their fellow travelers in the Democrat Party where they belong.

"NewHam, could you provide a link showing that the eduction funds are going to the teachers unions?"

You know, I'd really love to do that, but Indiana is one of the states that deliberately hides its state budget information from the people who pay the bill.

Indiana currently has no statewide, official spending database online. Although Indiana House Bill 1280 would have placed spending information online, the bill died during the 2009 regular session under Governor Mitch Daniels' liberal leadership.

But you can rest assured that when Democrats say they're spending money on "education" what they mean is that they're spending money on teacher salaries. It's a code word that the liberals know, but that conservatives like yourself are apparently unfamiliar with.

Those teachers are all members of government employee unions (primarily the NEA); and that money primarily goes to pay their salaries.

And these government employees in the United States have done very well with their union, to the degree that they currently make 200% of the median salary as compared non-government employees in the private sector.

It's time to reign in the public employee unions. They're bankrupting the country and Mitch Daniels is right there alongside Barack Obama helping them do it.

He won't get my vote, and I'll work to ensure he's not elected should he be put forth as the candidate for the Republican Party.

Conservatives demand a Ronald Reagen type candidate who is going to take back our government from the leach unions.

Or else enjoy your communism, folks and watch Democrats take over industry after industry after industry.

Seems to me its far too early for this navel gazing--the first step in the process would be if there is a democrat challenger to Mr Obama--a distinct possibility in my mind if Mr Obama's numbers continue to go south.

Personally I am a big fan of Gov Haley Barbour, but I dont think the country would elect a republican with a Mississipi drawl

"The only original idea any candidate needs is to start cutting (really cutting budgets) and to start confronting the public employee unions and their pension funds that are sucking the taxpayers dry."

It's much worse than you think.

Mitch Daniels hasn't cut the budget in Indiana. He's grown it - at a huge pace: From a budget of $31.2 billion in 2000, Mitch Daniels has almost doubled the state budget in just under nine years to $50.5 billion.

He's a classic tax-and-spend Fellow Traveller of Barack Obama and the liberal Democrats.

And Mitch isn't done with you yet. He's working hand-in-hand with Barack Obama to ensure that Indiaian's union chiefs keep getting fat on the hog.

* $1.3 billion in stimulus for the teachers union honchos* $650 million for the trade unions* Wasting $100 million on "weatherization" is nothing more than a payoff to the carpenter unions.* $80 million for the Public Employees Transit Union

Now, take a look at this list of State of Indiana employees making over $170,000 a year:

There are over 1,000 people working for the taxpayers of the State of Indiana making $170,000 a year in salary. The internet database showing you this cannot even return more than 1,000 entries in response to this query.

So there's actually a lot more they're not even showing us.

It's fucking obscene how these liberal Democrats-In-Republican-Sheeps-Clothing have taken over and are enriching themselves at taxpayer expense.

He will not cut taxes to stimulate jobs (we know because he's grown the state budget in Indiana by almost 100% in just 9 short years costing Indiana voters billions out of their pockets.

He will not cut business taxes on Indiana small businessmen ... leading to 9.9% unemployment in his state. That's a dreadful track record.

He will not take on the public employee unions (because he's taking stimulus money to give to his union buddies hand over fist).

He will not protect our borders (he hasn't signed up Indiana State Police to the federal program allowing them to arrest illegal aliens bursting our state budgets).

He will not reign in public employee salaries and pensions (thousands in Indiana are making over $100,000 a year on the public teat). Is Mitch giving you $100,000 large a year? I didn't think so. But if you're in one of his favored unions, it's a pretty good bet you're getting greased.

The Christian Science Monitor lists Indiana as the 8th worst state in terms of unfunded pension obligations to public employee union thugs.

Does anyone doubt that the average successful business person would be better than any Pol out there. The country's problems are a result of such stupidity and corruption that it does not take much to make great improvements. It only takes courage, honesty and the ability to communicate well to the American people.

There will be no populist heroes. The country is so divided that 50% would openly hate Zeus himself, if he won. Make that Jupiter - the Greeks have lost their souls.

Barack Obama could have gone down in history as possibly the greatest President in modern history. He arrived at the perfect time and had the perfect optics. All he needed was to be a conservative and a reformer.

The enormous improvement in the lives of blacks and everyone else would have been incredible seeing someone who looks like him telling the country to get a spine and take care of yourselves. To go out and build and risk and hire and fight and build your own life and your country through hard work and freedom.

Instead he was ruined from childhood by good intentions and codling.

The next President must have a history of success through effort, risk and struggle. This kind of person used to be a common American in politics, but now they are as rare as a successful socialist state.

"NewHam makes me really, really want to vote for Mitch Daniels. Just to piss him off."

Andy ... is it you?

Is it you Andy Stern?

Because I want you to vote for your friend Mitch Daniels.

What you guys don't realize is that some regular Joe American like myself can, in the space of about two hours, dig up everything I need to know to tell me that Mitch Daniels is working with Democrats and is part of the problem.

It doesn't take much effort to get around the gatekeepers and the spinmeisters to figure out that Mitch and Barack are cut from the same cloth.

How is Mitch Daniels going to stand up to the scrutiny of Rush Limbaugh if he's nominated?

McCain certainly couldn't. McCain was Democrat Lite And look what happened. We ended up with Barack Obama taking over our companies and bankrupting the country.

Republican's cannot nominate up a pale imitation of Barack Obama and expect to win.

I know this is might be small and petty to some of you, but Indiana was one of the few states that did not have day light savings time and by God we were happy. Daniels dragged hoosiers kicking and screaming onto eastern day light savings time, and amazingly business went UP because of this. It makes it easier for east coasters to do business with us.

Boy, you said it bagoh20. I truly grieve that the first black POTUS wasn't a conservative, because the failure of Obama will likely make it much harder for the next black POTUS to be elected, however unfair that might be.

On the other hand, it probably guarantees that the next black POTUS will be a conservative.

Hoosiers. We're called Hoosiers. It sounds stupid until you say Indianians a few times. The state legislature does dumb things. Mitch makes them take a bunch of it back. Sometimes I like his ideas, sometimes I don't. I'd be happy to vote for Daniels.

The Daniel's appeal is to the upper middle class white man loving heart of America, and that will get him 48% of the vote. Sarah Palin's appeal draws in the next 3 % of the indies and also More Importantly raises her supporters turnout by 10%. Daniels cannot match that, which is why he refused to run until some one in the GOP lured him in with a promise of the support like W got. He is not going to win, because his purpose is to lose so that Jeb can be the savior in 2016. The country cannot wait for that Bush parlay to work itself out. So do not hate the man Daniels , but do develop a strong dislike for what he is in the race to do...to lose it. His Alan Ladd height and restrained manner will not inspire the band wagon push that is needed to overcome the Acorn effect in a close race.

"Anybody else shocked that the Dems reauthorized the same PATRIOT Act they couldn't condemn often enough the last few years?"

I'm not particularly surprised.

The Democrat and Republican political party's are virtually the same nowadays, as regards specific policies initiatives.

Obama, for example, has decided to also leave open Gitmo and has expanded the out-and-out assassinations of alleged enemy combatants.

I say alleged because there's thusfar no real proof they're actually enemy combatants since they don't get trials or any sort of due process. Obama merely orders their assassinations and an unmanned drone is dispatched and flown into Pakistan and missiles are launched, whether there are innocent civilians nearby or not.

I mean, once you start ordering murders like this, there's not really much that should surprise Americans about what Democrats are capable of, is there?

The Republicans usually nominate the next person in line. So their nominee will be either Romney or Palin.

If Dems lose one or both houses in 2010, Obama will win reelection just as Clinton did in 1996 by passing popular bipartisan stuff and staying above the fray when the Congresspeople act stupidly, as they always do. If Dems retain control of Congress Obama's polls could keep going south as people tire of the leftist agenda.

Some other Dem migh challenge him. That would be Hillary. If Obama wins primaries he will lead a divided party in the general and could lose. If Hillary upsets Obama, Blacks will be pissed and stay home. She is almost certain to lose.

The only hope for either Obama or Hillary, unless Obama's dive is reversed by something like a foreign crisis, is that the Republicans might nominate Palin. The media will be in her face every minute and dumping gobs of shit on her family. She will crack under the pressure.

Romney's chances are tied to health reform. If health reform fails, he has a shot at winning because no one will bring it up in 2012. If health care reform is passed and people hate it, which they will, the media and the Democrats will remind people that it is just like Romney's Massachusetts plan, which it is.

He can't win without conservative votes and he's not going to get them because he's a liberal.

Look ... here's the difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama: Romney is effective. And that's bad for Republicans.

Here's what I mean: Romney is able to reach across the aisle and work in a bi-partisan way to enact the Democrats legislation.

WTF?

That's what he did in Massachusetts. He worked diligently with Democrats to pass ObamaCare in Massachusetts. Then he scooted on down the road and left us to pay for it. And now it's bankrupting the state of Massachusetts.

Obama, on the other hand, is unable to enact Democrat legislation. He's a moron. Even with 60 votes in the Senate, Obama couldn't get health care mandates passed.

But Romney could. And Romney would ... just like he did in Massachusetts.

So why would conservatives want Romney as President? It would be retarded for us to vote for the guy who can actually enact the Democrats' legislation for them.

So if Romney is the nominee ... I'll be voting for Barack Obama's re-election, because Barack Obama is incompetent.

And I'd rather have an incompetent Democrat like Obama than a competent one like Romney.

"NewHam, did Daniels ask for the fed money? It was allocated to his state, was he supposed to say no?"

Actually, it's not difficult to predict that any GOP nominee who's been a governor during the 09-12 frame and who runs against Obama's spending and deficits will face a retort in the form of, "Well, Governor, how much stimulus money did YOU take for your state, huh?" At which point, that nominee's candidacy is toast.

In that sense, Palin got out of her governorship while the getting was good as far as plausible deniability of responsibility for accepting the gargantuan amount of Obama stimulus money Alaska was slated to receive goes.

"... those surgeons who teach at top medical schools should be happy with salaries in the high 5 figures."

If Mitch Daniel's can't come up with a way to cut government salaries then he needs to just join the Democrat Party and let a real conservative accomplish the task.

These millionaires should be teaching privately.

If their services are in such demand, then people will pay for them privately. There is absolutely no reason why other citizens of Indiana should be supporting these extravagant salaries and the million-dollar pension and benefit packages that go with them.

I mean really, is this the kind of defeatism that a President Mitch Daniels administration would bring to the task of cutting bloated government salaries? You're not a very good advertisement for Republican leadership. Or Daniels.

Taxpayers cannot afford to keep these millionaires in their Lexi and McMansions. Let them market their services in the private sector if their is a demand for them.